Monday, February 8, 2010— the first day of the Wyoming Legislature’s Budget Session.  The primary purpose of the session is to set the budget for the next 2 years.  The new budget year begins on July 1, 2010 and runs through June 30, 2012, so we refer to the budget as the 11-12 budget, even though part of it is in 10.  This morning there is a reception at the Wyoming Supreme Court.  I chair the House Judiciary Committee, so I will attend that reception, since many of the requests …

Get Involved in the 2010 Wyoming Legislative Session
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“Information moving at the speed of light.” It’s a phrase commonly used in the digital age that we live in today including a place you may not expect, the Wyoming Legislature. Before the days of the Internet, the public didn’t have the opportunities to participate in the legislative process from anywhere in the state. Unless you were physically at the Capitol in Cheyenne, up-to-date information was hard to come by and in most cases delayed by several hours or even several days. …

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Critics say juvenile justice problem is overstated
Advocates push reform

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By JOSHUA WOLFSON - Star-Tribune staff writer | Posted: Saturday, January 2, 2010 12:00 am | No Comments Posted

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Angelica Arriaga prepares to hand out stockings full of candy and books to the students at the Juvenile Detention Center on Christmas morning 2008. (File/Star-Tribune)

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Juvenile justice reform advocates have been pushing Wyoming to adopt a philosophy that favors fewer jailed kids and more alternatives to …

The big topic this week in the coffeehouses of Jackson has been tax swapping.  (Well maybe not in every coffeehouse, but at least in the ones I frequent and you got to sit next to old nerds like me that discuss tax policy as a hobby).  Tax swapping was created a few years ago in response to a need seen from the Town of Jackson.  The Town of Jackson is the only town in the State of Wyoming that does not assess property tax (each municipality can assess up to …

Energy companies count Wyoming oilfield deaths wrong, labor leader says
by phil.noble on December 11th, 2009

by Phil Noble, Cowboy State Free Press Bureau Chief
CHEYENNE–”They (energy companies) would love you to believe people are dying from car wrecks,” Wyoming AFL-CIO head Kim Floyd said in response to recent testimony to a legislative committee about high transportation deaths contributing to Wyoming’s status as leading the nation in workplace fatalities.
“They’re counting the deaths (from oilfield accidents) wrong. if you’re working in the oil field on a pipeline and you die, that’s counted under transportation. …

Some lawmakers are in workers’ corner
LAURIE GOODMAN - Perspective | Posted: Sunday, November 29, 2009 12:00 am
Legislators who sit on the Joint Judiciary Committee recently spoke their truth, and while dismaying, it may have created an opportunity to confront that truth and attempt to do something meaningful to improve the rights and lives of the workers and their families who call Wyoming “home.”
Since statehood, our legislators have struggled with their relationship with our blue-collar workers. Dependent on the money generated from the extraction and sale of our …

The Joint Judiciary Committee has been in Laramie for the past few days meeting on a myriad of issues.  Today we spent most of the day working on the carbon sequestration financial assurance bill.  One of the presenters giving testimony was State Representative Tom Lubnau from Gillette, who has been the primary mover and shaker in Wyoming that has been moving carbon sequestration forward.  Rep. Lubnau gave a very interesting power point presentation.  Here are some of the statistics that he provided:
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Wyoming provides 10% of the energy needs of the …

Some passages that I found interesting in Sarah Palin’s new book “Going Rogue”.   Some are just trivial that just caught my attention.
 

Sarah Palin is supposed to give her first State of the State address as Governor.  It is supposed to occur on January 15 and then she is flying to Georgia to be with her son graduating from boot camp.  The Senate President doesn’t like her, so the Senate President moves the time of the State of the State address so she won’t be able to make it to …

Below you will find an article from the Billings Gazette on the Duty of Care bill.  Same article was in the Casper Star Tribune
Workplace liability re-examined
By DUSTIN BLEIZEFFER Casper Star-Tribune | Posted: Sunday, November 15, 2009 12:00 am
CASPER — Leroy Fried was killed, crushed by a beam while he and his crew were setting up a drilling rig, Aug. 2, 2004.
“He was a dad. He was a grandpa. He was a husband. I have grandbabies who will never know their grandpa Leroy,” said his widow, Cheryl Fried.
Fried plans …

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Dustin Bleizeffer, the energy reporter for the Casper Star Tribune posted this blog earlier this week about my frustrations with some comments made by the Petroleum Association of Wyoming (PAW).
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http://tribtown.trib.com/post/DustinBleizeffer/blog/war_of_words.html
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War of words
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Posted by: Dustin Bleizeffer on November 11, 2009 at 3:03PM EST
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A recent resolution by the Teton County Commission supporting more disclosure of hydraulic fracturing fluids was met with some harsh words from the Petroleum Association of Wyoming last week.
In a Star-Tribune article, PAW president Bruce Hinchey said the effort is “coming from a bunch of environmental wackos …”
State Rep. …